What Risks Do You Run With Gastric Lap Banding?

Obesity surgery has seen tremendous advances in the past 50 years and modern forms of surgery like gastric lap banding are certainly a lot safer and have many fewer complications than early forms of open gastric bypass surgery. All the same, there are still risks and these need to be fully discussed with your surgeon before you embark on surgery.

Gastric lap band surgery has several risks that are specific to this form of surgery and also has the same risks which come will any major surgery. Additionally, there are some general risks that are seen with any surgery involving patients who are overweight.

The most serious risk is of course that of death occurring either during surgery or shortly after and directly related to surgery. At this early stage (gastric lap banding has been done for about 13 years now but has only been licensed in the US since 2001) there have been very few deaths seen and it is not easy to give a figure, though it is generally held that the risk of death from gastric lap banding is under one percent.

One interesting thing to note is that in one Australian study no deaths were reported in a group of 2,700 patients who have had laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery since 1994. It should be noted however that Australia has been a leader in establishing the use of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and that over ninety percent of all weight loss surgeries carried out in Australia are now using this method. This is important as, when you interpret the data from this particular study, you have to bear in mind that the experience of the surgeon is an extremely important factor in terms of both risk and complication. Surgeons with a great deal of experience with this technique show a far higher rate of success.

Many of the risks encountered during the course of surgery are general rather than lap band specific and are common risks to do with such things as your age, weight, reaction to anesthetic and the existence of disease (whether such disease is or is not directly associated with your weight problem). The chief lap band specific risk during the course of surgery is that of gastric perforation (a tear occurring in the wall of the stomach) which occurs in about 1% of all cases.

By far and away the majority of complications occur after surgery and the majority of patients will experience some form of complication in the weeks and months after their operation. These complications will not necessarily be serious and will range from very mild to quite severe.

Around half of all patients will suffer varying degrees of nausea and vomiting and in the region of one-third of patients will also suffer from regurgitation (gastroesophageal reflux). In the region of a quarter of patients will experience band slippage and approximately one patient in seven will experience a blockage to the passage joining the two parts of the stomach.

Other mild to severe problems following gastric lap band surgery can include the erosion of the band into the wall of the stomach and leakage or twisting of the access port. Difficulty in swallowing, diarrhea and constipation are also quite common.

In a very small number of patients (less than 1%) a whole series of non-serious problems can arise including gastritis, migration of the stomach above the diaphragm, pancreatitis, dehydration, abdominal pain, gas, chest pain and infection.

In general gastric lap band surgery, particularly when it is carried out laparoscopically, carries fewer risks and complications than other types of weight loss surgery, but the risks are still substantial and ought to be fully discussed with your surgeon and fully understood before any decision is taken to undergo surgery.

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Visit GastricBypassFacts.info for the latest information about gastric bypass surgery and for additional details of gastric band surgery.

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